“We’ve done a great job of using medicine and education to prevent HIV, and now we really have to teach people about how you can love someone with HIV," she told Metro. “The main message from our research is that HIV-positive Canadian women can and do enjoy meaningful intimate relationships and healthy sexuality after HIV."

Along with a team of researchers at SFU, Carter is carrying out research for her PhD thesis that she hopes will work to normalize sex and intimacy for women living with HIV.

The team is using survey data collected from the Canadian HIV Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Cohort, or CHIWOS, which is following 1,425 women in Canada living with HIV over time— the largest study of its kind in the world.

Using the data to characterize the women's romantic relationships, the researchers are then examining how the relationship patterns of HIV-positive women are connected to positive aspects of sexual wellbeing, like pleasure and love.